Coming off

The maintenance conversation

Reaching a goal — or thinking about stopping — usually means a conversation with your prescriber about what comes next. Here is what current guidance says, and how to arrive with your own facts.

What the guideline says

The 2025 Canadian guideline update recommends using pharmacotherapy with health behaviour changes long term, naming semaglutide and tirzepatide among the options, to avoid weight regain and the loss of health benefits. Its message for patients: medicines are part of a long-term strategy, and stopping can lead to regain^[1].

The evidence to bring

Two trials randomized people to keep taking their medicine or switch to placebo; those who switched regained weight over the following year^[4][5]. See stopping a GLP-1 for the numbers.

Questions you might ask

What would continuing look like — same dose, or something else? If I stop, what would we watch for, and when would we talk again? How would cost or coverage change either way? What signs in my trend would mean we should revisit the plan?

Bring your own trend

Light Years' appointment summary puts your plan, dose history, check-ins and your own questions on one page. See also appointment prep.

General information, not medical advice. This page describes guidance; it is not a recommendation for you.

Light Years turns your own logs into a one-page summary to bring along. Open my appointment summary or browse the other guides.